Experiment in Betrayal

 

This term the Year 9 students have been studying Sci-fi movie i-Robot as text. Here is a narative in the Sci-fi genre by Natalie S.

I looked into her sparkling, blue eyes as Arabella sobbed. Arabella and I are the only people immune to the virus that devastated our planet decades ago. After the meteor hit, the many millions of rotting corpses unleashed another worldwide viral catastrophe that wiped out almost all of the rest of us. XT Labs have been experimenting on us since we were born, trying to find a cure to the virus and now they are searching for us.

"Shari, what if they find us? I don't want to go back," Arabella whispered tearfully to me as we sat down, our backs leaning against the wreckage.

"Don't worry, we have each other. We'll stay together and we won't stop running." I knew that we weren't going to make it, but I needed to reinsure Bella, and myself, that we were going to make it.

Sirens whizzed past us. We crouched behind the burnt car, hoping they wouldn't see us. I looked over to Bella, trembling in fear as she wiped her tears from her rosy cheeks. She isn't strong and confident in herself, the trauma had weakened her emotionally and physically. Bella leaned over towards me. She muttered something, but I couldn't quite understand what she said. I didn't bother to ask what she had murmured, I figured she was probably praying quietly.

"It's getting dark, maybe we should start moving," I said hesitantly as I heard something. Chills rolled down my aching body as we got up and ran. We didn't know where we were running to, but we just needed to save ourselves from the past.

The glaring sun rose at dawn, lighting up the dull planet. This was the first time I'd seen the sun since the meteor hit Earth, filling our gloomy world with destruction. It was glorious as the sun caressed my body like a caring mother.

"Isn't it nice that we don't have to be inside that lab anymore?" For that little moment, all I could think about was the future and how happy I would be to live freely.

"This doesn't feel right though," Bella sighed. "Don't you think this is wrong? What about all the other people? I know what has happened in the past, and I don't want to go back to that, but do you want to save all of humanity or be selfish and save yourself?"

I couldn't believe what I just heard. How could she even think like that?

"Those people don't deserve us. We don't deserve to suffer. All this experimenting and torture, and you want to go back? Not even one person tried to help us get out, not one cared about us." I looked into Arabella's eyes. We've been through the same experiences together, but we were so different on the inside.

Bella turned around and started jogging, not even looking back at me. I felt my body tense up as my blood pumped fiercely through my veins. When you have been with someone your whole life, it's difficult to think they would just leave you, but I guess you never know what's coming your way.

"I have to stop her," I muttered to myself. She couldn't have gone far, I guessed. It got dark and I was still looking for her. I just wish she said goodbye, she was my only friend.

I heard a bang and went to investigate. I could hear someone taking but it was really quiet so I went closer to the open door.

"Mum, I'm back. Shari is alone and I know where to find her, follow me." A high pitched voice, sounding a lot like Bella's, spoke. I peeked through the door and saw Bella standing at the bottom of a staircase, looking up at the mysterious woman standing on the top floor. Bella lied to me. My whole life has been a lie. She used me. I could feel my face boiling to the point where I was going to burst, but instead tears rolled down my face as I hid behind the door, watching Bella betraying me. The only person I thought I could trust, gone.

"We'll head due east to find her!" a man shouted from the other side of the room as he scurried to find his car keys. I knew that the snow would cover my tracks, so I headed west to leave all those horrific memories. That was my time to start a new life, to start over again in an uncertain future.